We arrived in Hampton on Oct. 17th.Just under 2 weeks later we headed out for the ICW and have made it into NC, just ahead of Tropical Storm Noel.We took time over those 2 weeks to enjoy the company of family and friends, including a Halloween extravaganza with our grandson.We also managed to squeeze in a few projects as well not all of them on Orion.

Solomons to Hampton - Rising Before the Sun

With the shorter days, we wanted as much daylight as possible for the long run from Solomons to Fishing Bay, causing us to leave before sunrise and arrive shortly before sunset.The trip was uneventful, which is a good thing. Little wind meant we motored the whole way, anchoring Tuesday night (Oct. 16th) in Fishing Bay on the Piankatank River.We had hoped to make contact with Tom and Cathie on Interlude so that we could visit with them while we were nearby their home on the Piankatank.Unfortunately, we weren’t able to connect.

So, the next morning we again left before the sun for the shorter trip to Hampton.The early departure would allow us to avoid the predicted afternoon thunderstorms.We would also arrive a day earlier than expected, on Oct. 17th, which happened to be Cathy’s 50th birthday.

It was another light-wind day, which made it as uneventful as the day before, until we neared the Norfolk area.The commercial and Naval activity picked up as Navy ships were lining up to come into port amidst the large tankers and even the schooner Virginiatrying to make way in the light winds.

We tied up at Joys Marina around 1pm in our same slip beside Steve and Krista on Bay Dreamer and settled in for a couple of weeks.

Fifty-Fifty

Cathy celebrates her 50th

One side benefit of making it to Hampton on Oct. 17th was that Cathy didn’t have to fix her own birthday dinner.Instead, we enjoyed a wonderful meal ”al fresco” atMarker 20 across the bridge from the marina.This was the first of several celebrations over the next 2 weeks with family and friends, including a birthday breakfast with Steve and Krista.Who said turning 50 is a bummer?It seems to be one endless party!

Fred and friend

Marianna arrives in Hampton

Via the Waterway Net and Cruiseheimers, we were following the progress of Pat and Fred on Marianna and Skip and Cherylle on Eleanor M, who left Massachusetts Oct 13/14 to head south.We had agreed to meet Marianna in Hampton.To our surprise, the weather gave them a break and they made it to Hampton in record time, arriving early Tuesday morning Oct. 22nd.We took a break from our construction projects at our daughter’s house and came back to Hampton to welcome them and show them a few sites -- like Cold Stone Creamery and Krispy Kreme.They returned the favor by helping us return our car on Sunday, following us to our son’s house in Skippers, VA and taking us back to Hampton.Since we had been so busy with our kids while we had a car, they helped us do the rounds of shopping to re-provision Orion before returning their rental car on Monday morning.

We also managed to enjoy lunch at our 2nd McDonald’s in as many days, where Fred made a new friend.Dinner was a little more upscale, as we managed to eat piles of seafood at Captain George’s in Virgina Beach.

Ninja Invasion

On the Saturday before we left, we brought our grandson to the boat so he could participate in downtown Hampton’s Halloween celebration.It started in the Virginia Air and Space Center with 2 hours of trick or treating and activities and then moved to the area businesses which were participating as well.The evening ended at the First UMC, where they had a party, dinner and a fun haunted house, that Droz had to visit multiple times.It was a great time. There was one dark event that evening as we had a ninja attack on Orion, which we documented for insurance purposes.

Which witch?

Boat Projects

We spent some of the time in Hampton taking care of on-going boat projects.While Dave equalized the batteries, Cathy refinished the swim platform.Just before leaving, we had a diver clean the bottom and change the zinc.Fred also helped Dave replace the new RACOR fuel filter, a much simpler job than with the previous filter assembly, and the on-engine Yanmar fuel filter.After running the engine under load, we assured ourselves that no air had entered the line and that it would not stall when we got underway the next day.

Or so we thought.

One of our bigger investments for this year was the purchase of a Viking Life Raft. We chose model RescYou 4-person. It comes in a soft-sided valise that fits nicely in our cockpit locker. At about 65 lbs, we can both lift it to toss overboard. The only thing that it lacks to enable it to be certified by the off-shore racing association is an inflated step. It seems to be a good quality raft for the money invested.

Goin’ to Carolina . . .

Great Bridge opens near sunrise

The weather has been more like summer than fall, which has been a dramatic difference from the same trip last year.It is also a lot more fun to be traveling with Pat and Fred.We picked Tuesday, Oct. 30th as the day to leave Hampton for the ICW, heading for Great Bridge VA.This was 25 miles, 7 opening bridges and 1 lock away from Hampton.The morning dawned clear with calm winds, so we were expecting an easy trip to Great Bridge, until Cathy heard something in the engine noise.The rpm’s and the engine pitched started fluctuating, causing Dave to check the new pressure gauge on the Racor filters.To his dismay, the vacuum was up to 15, which was higher than we’d ever seen.The vacuum was the same on both filters.Talking to Fred confirmed that this was not a good thing, but that it might be some dirt in the line between the tank and the filter.If so, the vacuum should drop once the filter picked up the dirt. After a tense hour, the vacuum returned to normal.We tried the engine at various rpm’s to ensure there would be no problem waiting for or powering through bridges.All was well, and we made it through the bridges without problem.

We arrived in Great Bridge after the 12:30pm lock opening and were amazed to see the free dock virtually empty.We tied up along with 2 other sailboats from the lock and proceeded to fill up the dock.We were thrilled with our good luck – something that we didn’t enjoy last year.(We also learned that we were fortunate to have the bridges and lock behind us, since the early morning fog the next day bunched up 40 boats in the canal, forcing some to wait an extra hour for a second lock opening.Ouch!)

Fred prepares Marianna to depart from Great Bridge

We had a short run to Coinjock on Wednesday, so we made a leisurely start at 9am and found ourselves virtually alone until well into the Currituck Sound.This was because the fog had kept the bridges behind us closed until late in the morning.We arrived early afternoon in Coinjock, and began devising a plan to avoid Tropical Storm Noel, which was now scheduled to graze NC and kick up the waters along the sounds we would pass.We decided to try for the Alligator River Marina, putting the Albemarle Sound behind us, and wait out the storm just north of the Alligator River bridge, at the last marina for 55 miles.

After a week experiencing the Boat Show happenings in Annapolis, we left for a leisurely cruise in the Bay, with the ultimate destination of Solomons, MD.Dave’s dad joined us for a week during some of the hottest October weather we’ve seen.

Boat Show Mania

The density of people and boats in Annapolis during the boat show is something to see to believe.With 27 mooring balls out of commission due to the expanded temporary docks, anchoring and mooring space is at a premium.With our somewhat smaller length, we qualified for the mooring balls in St Mary’s Cove, inside the Spa Creek bridge, which surprisingly had some availability almost every night.The maximum length allowed is 35’ 11”.We come in at 35.4 feet, so we just made it.

From our vantage point, we could watch the harbor transform.On the Sunday before the show, all private boats were required to leave the inner harbor (aka Ego Alley) by 6:30 pm.The dinghy dock was closed at noon.Also, all boats had to be off the affected mooring balls by noon as well.The materials needed to build the new temporary docks were already positioned to deploy, with huge timbers for pilings, floating docks, and a working barge to drive the pilings.By Monday, the first wave of boats were already in place.Each group had to be brought in before the next set of docks could be put in place, blocking them into their slips.There were stacks of pallets, a convoy of forklifts and truck after truck delivering the goods for the vendor booths that would cover the site.

By Thursday, all was ready for the opening day.However, the high ticket price for this “VIP” day kept most cruisers away until Friday.Friday was therefore a very busy day, with the dinghy docks already full to overflowing long before the 10am start time.We found it hard to see everything we wanted to, despite our arriving as the show opened.We visited the Yanmar booth, looked at several life raft models, checked out the latest in LED lights, among many other vendors there.We got to catch up with Bruce Empey from Neil Pryde Sails, who had worked with us in replacing our main sail.We met Ken and Joy from Slow Dancin’, before meeting up with Dave, Donna, Roger and Amy from Merlin and Shango around 4pm.We closed the show down as we made our last purchase just before closing at 7pm and headed back to Orion, satisfied that we had done the show right.

On Saturday, Steve and Krista from Bay Dreamer in Hampton had come up for the show.We hosted them for lunch on Orion, and gave them a little respite from the heat.(Did I mention how hot it was?!)The show continued on in full steam through Monday, even as we were pulling out and leaving Annapolis behind for this trip.

Dave's dad at the wheel

Just Like Ol' Times

Dave’s dad had joined us in the very beginning as we learned to sail with the Annapolis Sailing School back in 2004.So, we were thrilled when he accepted our invitation to join us for a week in early October to explore the Bay with a little bit more experience than in those early days.

He arrived Saturday evening, October 6th.After touring Annapolis and the US Naval Academy on Sunday, we headed out Monday morning for the Magothy River. (This was the stop we missed in our original Annapolis Sailing School adventure, since the winds and our inexperience were working against a trip up through the Bay bridge.)We arrived in the anchorage behind Dobbins Island with only 1 other boat for company.That gradually changed, but we had a pleasant night there before heading out the next morning for Galesville.On our way out of the Magothy, we passed the Pride of Baltimore II, which was anchored there.She was attracting a lot of attention from the other boats leaving the river as well.It was good to see her back together again after the terrible dismasting that occurred early last Spring.

We pulled into Pirates Cove, a restaurant and marina in Galesville, MD in early afternoon.This was the first time we had plugged into shore power in over a month, and Orion sucked up all she could.We weren’t there long enough to equalize the batteries, but the full charge has made a big difference in the number of times we need to run the generator.We enjoyed a meal out on the deck of the restaurant as the sun set and skies began to cloud up from the approaching cold front.We got little rain, but were rewarded with cooler temperatures and some NW winds for the next day’s trip to the Patuxent River.

St Leonards Creek

We were able to use our sails some more on this trip.We bypassed Solomons in favor of an anchorage just inside St. Leonard Creek (which we had last visited in July of last year).As the only boat in the anchorage, we enjoyed another quiet evening.The next morning, we had a front row seat as we watched 2 or 3 crabbing boats work a trot line to bring in their catch of crabs on the creek.

The mild cold front that passed on Tuesday night was followed by a much stronger one on Wednesday night.This one brought thunderstorms, rain – lots of it – and strong winds.It also dramatically cooled off the temperatures, which was a big relief.We flew down the river on 25kt winds and higher gusts and a furled headsail.Since we were just heading to Solomons, we took some time to sail around in the river before heading into the harbor.The winds didn’t die down until later Friday afternoon.This kept the harbor full of boats unwilling to tangle with that much wind on the Bay.

We took a day off from traveling on Friday and visited the Calvert Marine Museum, which is at water’s edge in Solomons and hosts the restored Drum Point Lighthouse.It was a very interesting museum, with indoor and outdoor exhibits to explore, and of course, the lighthouse itself.

Since Dave’s cousin, Don, and his family live near Solomons in Lexington Park, we joined them for dinner the evening we arrived and again for a day sail on Sunday.

Talking with friends at Liberty Marina

Liberty Marina

We said goodbye to Dave’s dad on Saturday afternoon, as he flew back to Rochester.Our trip to BWI took us by our old haunts at Liberty Marina, so we stopped to visit some friends there – Harry, Dan and Regina, Grady and Ruth.Harry on Linda Sea traveled south last year as far as Brunswick and hopes to do the same again this year.We exchanged boat cards and promised to look for each other along the way.

Harry on Linda Sea keeps his boat at Liberty Marina in the summer but travelled south to Florida for the winter.

(Not Much) Boat Stuff

If you don’t count the boat show, we didn’t do much on Orion over the past 2 weeks.(It was just too much of a social whirl.)We did manage to squeeze in an oil change, top off the water and fuel tanks, and fully charge the batteries but not much more.

With other friends now underway at various points along the East Coast, we started tuning in more regularly to the Waterway Net on the ham radio, which meats every morning at 7:45am on frequency 7.268.We managed to hear Eleanor M as they began their trip south out of Newburyport and Marianna as they moved toward the Cape Cod canal.Now we can track each other’s progress, even if we can’t talk directly by other means.

The Supreme Court

Doing the Tourist Thing

While in Annapolis, we took a day trip into DC to ”do the tourist thing”, where we visited the mint and the restored Library of Congress building.Being off season, it was a great time to visit, with very few crowds.The Library of Congress building, having been restored to its former splendor in 1997, should be on everyone’s list of things to see in Washington.It is breathtakingly beautiful.We managed to squeeze in some lunch at Captial Q, Dave’s favorite BBQ place before heading back to Annapolis at day’s end.

Further South

We woke up Sunday morning (Oct. 14th) to find Kokopelli, a boat we’d first met in the Bahamas, on the mooring ball next to us.They were planning a month of travels in the bay, but no trip further south this year.Monday night, our last night in Solomons, we left Zahnisers and anchored in Mill Creek.(This is the one off Back Creek, not the one nearby off the Patuxent River.)We had read about anchoring in this creek, but had always passed it by in favor of Back Creek.Although we anchored fairly close to the entrance, we took a long dinghy ride up to the end, where we found many possible anchorages, with navigable waters almost to the very end.We are now working our way south to Hampton, where we will get to spend some time with our kids and their families before heading down the waterway.We hope to catch up with Marianna and Merlin there before we start out for Mile Zero.